"'Meat?' said Britain, approaching
Mr. Snitchey, with the carving knife and fork in his hands, and throwing
the question at him like a missile." by E. A. Abbey. 10 x 13.4
cm framed. From the Household Edition (1876) of Dickens's Christmas Stories, p. 115. Dickens's The Battle of Life: A Love Story was first published
for Christmas 1846. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Two years later for the British Household Edition, Fred Barnard, equally guided by
the tenets realism, extended the text in a more legitimate manner than
had Richard Doyle at the beginning of The Battle of
Life in the original 1846 edition, accurately depicting the
society of the village, and perhaps even describing a moment when the
resident intellectual, Dr. Jeddler, was a much younger man and first saw
an artifact from the battle unearthed, in "The
ploughshare still turned up from time to time some rusty bits of metal. . .".
Moreover, Barnard's illustration defines the social range of the action and legitimately
reifies the characters' failed or incomplete interrogation of the past,
of the futile attempts to solve its puzzles, that characterises
Dickens's attempt in this Christmas Book to emulate Oliver Goldsmith's
novel The Vicar of Wakefield.

However, E. A. Abbey in selecting scenes for the novella in Christmas Stories appears to have selected one of
the original scenes, John Leech's "The
Parting Breakfast" in "Part the First," the fifth illustration, for
reinterpretation. Although Leech had provided no caption for his al
fresco breakfast, the moment illustrated appears to be precisely
that which Abbey's illustration realizes:

Passage Illustrated:

Perhaps to change the subject, Dr. Jeddler made a hasty
move towards the breakfast, and they all sat down at table. Grace
presided; but so discreetly stationed herself, as to cut off her sister
and Alfred from the rest of the company. Snitchey and Craggs sat at
opposite corners, with the blue bag between them for safety; the Doctor
took his usual position, opposite to Grace. Clemency hovered
galvanically about the table, as waitress; and the melancholy Britain,
at another and a smaller board, acted as Grand Carver of a round of beef
and a ham.

"Meat?" said Britain, approaching Mr.
Snitchey, with the carving knife and fork in his hands, and throwing the
question at him like a missile.

Certainly," returned the lawyer.

"Do you want any?" to Craggs.

"Lean and well done," replied that gentleman.

Having executed these orders, and moderately supplied the
Doctor (he seemed to know that nobody else wanted anything to eat), he
lingered as near the Firm as he decently could, watching with an austere
eye their disposition of the viands, and but once relaxing the severe
expression of his face. This was on the occasion of Mr. Craggs, whose
teeth were not of the best, partially choking, when he cried out with
great animation, "I thought he was gone!"

"Now, Alfred,' said the Doctor, "for a word or two of
business, while we are yet at breakfast." [115]

The subject of this ensuing conversation is significant in terms of
the novella's plot, namely that Alfred Heathfield, heretofore Dr.
Jeddler's ward, is about to leave for medical studies for three years
abroad, with the promise of Marion Jeddler's hand in marriage when he
returns. However, Abbey's treatment of the scene is more realistic and
theatrical, and less cartoon-like; moreover, Abbey has omitted entirely
the stagecoach that is approaching the village and will shortly carry
Alfred away to the greater world. In Leech's small-scale wood engraving,
a coach drawn by a team of horses is rattling across a plain (above),
while below the crotchety serving man, Benjamin Britain (lower right) ,
offers to carve roast beef for the attorneys at his end of the table;
Dr. Jeddler and his daughters are at the left side of the frame. In
total, Leech has included eight characters, Alfred (largely obscured by
the doctor) and Clemency Newcome rounding out the party at a rather
crowded table. In contrast, Abbey has positioned the youthful and manly
figure of Alfred in the foreground (right), with Snitchey (identified by
the blue bad) and Benjamin Britain to the left. Marion, Grace, and their
father are in the background, with Clemency again standing behind them;
somehow, Abbey has lost track of Craggs, Snitchey's legal partner.
Abbey's composition, however, has the merit of solid, three-dimensional
figures in varied poses set against the background of Dr. Jeddler's
orchard, established vividly in the 1846 edition with Daniel Maclise's
"Frontispiece", the ladder and the tree
from that original illustration appearing again in Abbey's illustration.
Thus, with only four illustrations to complement the text, Abbey has
effectively conflated two of the thirteen 1846 illustrations. As Henry
James noted in his assessment of E. A. Abbey's work in Picture and
Text (1893), the late nineteenth-century illustrator seems perfectly
comfortable delineating the costumes of the previous century: however,
although he has realised the male characters' shoes, stockings,
breeches, jackets, and wigs with loving detail and conviction, he has
treated the three female characters much more generally, focusing on
their faces rather than their fashions.

Scanned image and text by
Philip V. Allingham. Formatting, color
correction, and linking by George P.
Landow. [You may use these images without prior permission for any
scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and
(2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

References

Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and his
Original Illustrators. Columbus: University of Ohio Press, 1980.

Cook, James. Bibliography of the
Writings of Dickens. London: Frank Kerslake, 1879. As given in Publishers' Circular The English Catalogue of Books.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z:
The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On
File, 1998.